Members of the Be a Man Club Mostar as part of the campaign “React as Human” continue with video clips that speak of violence and aim to encourage young people to act against violence –react as human. This week, they made a video clip that speaks about the verbal violence and peer pressure.
Verbal violence is the most common form of abuse of one’s psyche which is particularly present among young people in their teens and can be manifested through peer pressure.
Peers play a big role in the emotional and social development of young people. Their influence begins at an early age and increases during their teenage years. It is natural, healthy and important for a child to have friends while growing up and maturing. Peers can be positive and supportive. They help each other discover new skills and encourage interest in sports, books, music, and extra-curricular activities. However, peers may have a negative impact as well. They can encourage each other to skip classes, to steal, to drink alcohol, to use drugs, to use violence against other peers…
Peer pressure is the sense of an individual – real or imagined – that he/she must behave the same way as the group does in order to do something that he/she does not want to do (drink, smoke, use violence, steal…) or for which he/she does not feel ready, for example sex – and if he/she does not agree – will suffer certain consequences, such as rejection, humiliation or loss of respect.
There are different types of peer pressure:
Teenagers often give in such peer pressure because they want to be part of the group, they want to be accepted, and respected in the group. The group is the one that determines what is “cool” and what is “in”, everything else creates a sense of not belonging to such a trend, and they feel rejected.
For young people it is very important to know how to resist peer pressure in order not to end up doing some things that otherwise they would not do.
“React as Human” is a regional campaign that aims to raise awareness of young people about the violence that surrounds us, as well as to empower young people to react in a positive and safe way, to take an active role in preventing and stopping violent situations. In everyday life and in the media it can be seen that one of the major problems is that people do not react to the violence they see and that happens around them, they act as if they are not concerned and often they only observe it or even film it with their mobile phones, rather than react in the right way and try to stop the violence. React as Human: speak up, support the victim, stand up, ask for help, deter a bully.
Be a Man Club Mostar is part of activities of the project “Promoting Healthier Lifestyles Among Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Challenging Gender Stereotypes”. This project is supported by the Swiss Government and the OAK Foundation and implemented with the support of CARE International Balkans.
You can follow the work of the Be a Man Club Mostar via their Facebook page and via the website.
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